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Question

Suppose $u$ and $v$ are positive integers and $\{a_n\}$ is a sequence with $a_{1}=u+v$ and

$$\begin{cases} a_{2m}=a_{m}+u\\ a_{2m+1}=a_{m}+v, \end{cases}$$ for every $m \ge 1$.

Let $s_{m}=a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{m}$, show that $\{s_{m}\}$ has infinitely many square numbers.

My try: since

$$a_{1}=u+v, a_{2}=2u+v,a_{3}=u+2v,a_{4}=3u+v,a_{5}=2u+2v,a_{6}=2u+2v,$$ $$a_{7}=u+3v,a_{8}=4u+v,a_{9}=3u+2v,a_{10}=3u+2v,a_{11}=2u+3v,\cdots\cdots\cdots$$ then $$s_{1}=u+v,s_{2}=3u+2v,s_{3}=4(u+v),s_{4}=7u+5v,s_{5}=9u+7v,s_{6}=11u+9v $$ $$s_{7}=12(u+v),s_{8}=16u+13v,s_{9}=19u+15v,s_{10}=22u+17v,s_{11}=24u+20v,\cdots$$ and we have

math110
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1 Answers1

5

I’ll demonstrate one way to approach the problem, leaving some of the intermediate proofs and the final step of the argument to you.

We have $a_1=u+v$ and

$$\begin{align*} a_{2m}&=a_{m}+u\\ a_{2m+1}&=a_{m}+v\;. \end{align*}$$

Gathering a little data, we find that

$$\begin{array}{l|l} a_1=u+v&s_1=u+v=a_1\\ \hline a_2=2u+v\\ a_3=u+2v&s_3=4u+4v=4a_1\\ \hline a_4=3u+v\\ a_5=2u+2v\\ a_6=2u+2v\\ a_7=u+3v&s_7=12u+12v=12a_1\\ \hline a_8=4u+v\\ a_9=3u+2v\\ a_{10}=3u+2v\\ a_{11}=2u+3v\\ a_{12}=3u+2v\\ a_{13}=2u+3v\\ a_{14}=2u+3v\\ a_{15}=u+4v&s_{15}=32u+32v=32a_1\\ \hline \end{array}$$

We notice that at least as far as our data go, if $2^{n-1}\le k<2^n$, then the coefficients of $u$ and $v$ in $a_k$ sum to $n+1$. It appears, moreover, that if $k=2^{n-1}+\ell$, then the coefficients of $u$ and $v$ in $a_k$ and $a_{2^n-1-\ell}$ are interchanged, so that $a_k+a_{2^n-1-\ell}=(n+1)(u+v)=(n+1)a_1$, and therefore

$$\sum_{k=2^{n-1}}^{2^n-1}a_k=2^{n-2}(n+1)a_1\tag{1}$$

for $n\ge 2$, and

$$s_{2^n-1}=\sum_{k=1}^{2^n-1}a_k=\left(1+\sum_{k=0}^{n-2}2^k(k+3)\right)a_1\;.\tag{2}$$

It’s not too hard to prove $(1)$ by induction on $n$, and that proves $(2)$. It’s possible to solve $(2)$ in closed form starting from scratch, but there’s a shortcut: for $n=1,2,3,4$ the coefficients of $a_1$ in $s_{2^n-1}$ are $1,4,12,32$; if we feed that to The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, the first return is A$001787$, and a quick computation shows that this sequence matches the coefficients of $a_1$ in $s_{31}$ and $s_{63}$ as well. If it really is our sequence, then

$$s_{2^n-1}=n2^{n-1}a_1\tag{3}$$

for $n\ge 1$. Given $(2)$, it’s easy to prove $(3)$ by induction on $n$.

Now it suffices to prove that if $a_1$ is any positive integer, there are infinitely many positive integers $n$ such that $n2^{n-1}a_1$ is a perfect square, and this is pretty straightforward.

Brian M. Scott
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